Macau arrests eleven over illegal mainland gambling allegations

In Macau and the Judiciary Police has reportedly announced the arrest of eleven individuals for allegedly having ties to illicit gambling supposedly being conducted by local junket giant Suncity Group.

According to a report from Inside Asian Gaming, the police force for the former Portuguese enclave released a short statement on Saturday to declare that it had ‘cracked an illegal gambling case’ also involving ‘criminal groups and money laundering.’ The source detailed that the detention of the nine men and two women came at the same time as the arrest in mainland China of the billionaire Chief Executive Officer for Suncity Group, Alvin Chau Cheok Wa (pictured).

Corresponding complaint:

Chau was reportedly detained by police in Zhejiang Province over the weekend after being accused of ‘opening casinos in China’ via his Suncity Gaming Promotion Company Limited enterprise. The 47-year-old is purportedly alleged to have facilitated cross-border gambling by contracting with land-based casinos in Macau before establishing an iGaming operation in Philippines targeting mainland punters.

Reportedly read a Judiciary Police statement…

“All people taking part in Macau’s gaming industry have to adhere strictly to relevant laws stipulated both in the country and in Macau. There will be no tolerance of any act deemed as violating Macau law and any such act will be investigated.”

Exhaustive examination:

In a separate statement, the government of Macau reportedly proclaimed that Chau is now moreover being asked to help the Judiciary Police with its ‘investigation in relation to previously-gathered evidence’. The jurisdiction purportedly went further by referencing plans currently being reviewed by its Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau regulator and Secretary of Economy and Finance that could well lead to a tightening in the regulation of local junket firms.

The government statement reportedly read…

“The Macau government has already had in place a relatively advanced system to manage the city’s gaming promoters. When revising the gaming law, the Macau government will strengthen its supervision of gaming promoters and their business with a view to ensuring Macau’s tourism and entertainment industry will be developed in a healthy and orderly way.”

Serious censure:

Chau was reportedly arrested in the Chinese city of Wenzhou with this community’s police force having asserted that Suncity Group had 199 ‘shareholder-level agents’ as of July of 2020 alongside roughly 12,000 gaming development representatives and over 80,000 mainland customers. This constabulary purportedly asserted that the case, which comes as part of Beijing’s long-running crackdown on cross-border gambling activities, involves ‘a tremendous amount of money’ as well as an issue that has ‘seriously impacted the social order of our country.’

Reportedly read a statement from the People’s Procuratorate of Wenzhou…

“In order to make illegal profits, Chau recruited mainland Chinese personnel as shareholder-level agents and gambling agents, organizing Chinese citizens to gamble in his contracted overseas junkets and participate in cross-border online gambling activities by means of granting high credit, promoting gambling business, providing transportation services and technical support. Chau set up an asset management company in mainland China to provide services for gamblers to exchange assets for gambling chips, helped to collect gambling debts, assisted clients in cross-border capital exchange and used underground banks to provide gamblers with fund settlement services.”